Narcissa's Echo
by Neverend
Summary: Ficlet in which Narcissa Black considers her limited possible husbands, and notices that a Muggle-born Hufflepuff has been following her around...


Narcissa's Echo  
  
Narcissa Black pulled closed the green velvet curtains of her bed. Within this cozy emerald world she felt safe and strong, the queen of all. Her long, blonde hair spread out on the pillow, she pulled out her mother's latest letter and read it yet again.  
  
Dear Narcissa,  
  
Things here are going as well as can be expected. Your father is rather upset at the moment. I'm not sure why since, as you know, it's better not to go near him in these moods. The effect of his curses is amplified by his anger, as you girls and I know all too well. I do gather, however, from what he mutters under his breath, that it has something to do with a Mudblood at the Ministry. It does seem that those things are infiltrating the place farther and farther these days.  
  
I hope that you are still upholding yourself well at school, and getting grades fitting for a pureblooded witch. Make sure that your sisters are behaving as they should, and not associating with the wrong sorts. As the oldest it is your job to watch out for them. I am especially worried about Andromeda. Have you noticed that she's been acting particularly rebellious lately? If we aren't careful she'll end up running off like my poor brother-in-law's son, and you know that would break my heart. Bella is the youngest and most impressionable, and I need you to make sure that she forms the right way.  
  
Now as for you my oldest, my Narcissa... You are almost seventeen now. At this time in her life every witch needs to turn her attentions to important matters. Specifically, husbands. It is almost time for you to choose. It is a crucial choice, as I'm sure you know, and must be made carefully. Your husband should belong to a old wizarding family, so that your future children can know the pride of a long and perfectly pure heritage. He should also be wealthy, so that you can live a comfortable life. Also make sure he is properly aware of his ancestry, and not one of those traitors that consorts with Mudbloods and disrespects their family name. Consider well my daughter, and when you have decided, turn on your charms, and before too long I am certain that you will have yourself a husband.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Cassiopeia Goyle Black  
  
Her mother had a point. She would need to think about marriage soon. Not that she hadn't thought about it before, of course, she'd been thinking about it since she was six years old, but always in a vague sort of way. Now was the time to fix upon a future husband.  
  
Her choices were limited, she knew. There were very few pureblooded wizards left in the world. A hundred years or so ago people had started marrying filthy Muggles and it was all a downward spiral from there. Also, of the ones there were, many were too closely related to her to consider, like Malcolm Goyle.  
  
Pulling back the curtains a bit, she took a blank parchment and a quill, and began a list of all unmarried pureblooded wizards within ten years of her in age. When finished, the list was discouragingly short.  
  
Frank Longbottom  
  
Monkshood Parkinson  
  
Bartemius Crouch  
  
Rodolphus Lestrange  
  
Lucius Malfoy  
  
Henry Crabbe  
  
Severus Snape  
  
James Potter  
  
Narcissa began with the first name on her list. Longbottom was quickly crossed off, being fat, poor, and a Mudlbood lover. Parkinson was only thirteen, much too young, and was eliminated almost as rapidly. Crouch was on the verge of being married, as well as being a total bore.  
  
Rodolphus Lestrange. She liked Rodolphus. He was handsome, in a bushy sort of way, and extremely proud of his ancestry. It made her heart swell just to listen to him speak about the importance of pure blood. But Narcissa's little sister Bellatrix had her claws firmly fixed in him. It was really amazing how a fourteen-year-old could be that shameless.  
  
Lucius Malfoy. Now there was a strong possibility. The Malfoys were extremely rich. She had seen their manor, and it was huge, almost twice as big as her own home. She would love to live in a place like that. Lucius was nine years older than her, but she liked older wizards.   
  
Crabbe was passed on without a second thought. He was dim and looked like a gorilla. Anyway, he was nothing more than a hanger on to Malfoy.   
  
Severus Snape. Her and Snivellus Snape! Narcissa collapsed in hysterical laughter at the very thought. When settling down to turn her attention back to the list, she inadvertently imagined herself kissing the hooked-nosed ball of grease and went into a fit of giggles.  
  
Finally she moved on to the last name on her list. James Potter. Oh my he was handsome! With those lovely hazel eyes and that black hair, always a little windswept, as if he had just got off a broom. Potter was a magnificent Quidditch player. She watched him intently at all the games she went to, zooming about, looping and diving in the air, making impossible catches to thunderous applause. Such a good player should marry a beautiful, pureblooded witch.  
  
Of course, he was in Gryffindor. He was also friends with Sirius, the cousin who had made her aunt cry, or rather, scream with rage. But surely Narcissa could change him? She remembered a day a couple of years ago when he had turned Snape upside down with his wand. A sense of humor too!  
  
She picked up her quill and circled the name "James Potter". What a husband he would make! Mother would be proud of her. Now to find him and start turning on her charms.   
  
*****  
  
As Narcissa walked through the stone halls of the castle, she noticed someone following her. If she wasn't mistaken it was the same boy she had noticed following her several times that year. He was a Hufflepuff a year younger than her. What was his last name? It started with an A, she was quite certain. Andrews, Amory, Abbot, that was it, Abbot. Narcissa had seen him at the train station once with his parents. They were Muggles.  
  
She decided that ignoring him was the best course of action. He had never approached her, in all the time he'd tailed her through the halls, and as long as he didn't actually talk to her she could bear to have a Hufflepuff mooning over her.  
  
Narcissa asked a passing Gryffindor prefect where Potter was. The girl said that she'd seen him in the library, with an accompanying hostile glance, since it was hardly proper for a Slytherin to be asking a Gryffindor anything.   
  
Narcissa made her way to the library and entered, the Hufflepuff still on her heels, like a dog. A quick glance around the room didn't reveal his position. She began to wander through the shelves. She passed some studying Ravenclaw first-years near the Invisibility section, rounded a corner, and saw James Potter hidden behind a shelf of biographies.  
  
He was in the arms of that red-headed Mudblood Evans, kissing her fervently. Narcissa stayed there for a moment, transfixed by the sight. Finally she turned to leave, disgusted. Quickly and furiously she marched out of the library... and straight into that Abbot boy.  
  
"Uh... uh.. Narcissa!" the boy stammered. "I'm so sorry! It's just that... that..." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if steeling himself for a blow.  
  
"Narcissa Black," he said, finally. "I know that you know I've been following you around, and it's because, well, because. Because you're beautiful and... and... I love you."  
  
Narcissa looked at the Hufflepuff for one long, disbelieving minute. Then her eyes narrowed. "Get away from me, Mudblood," she spat, and walked past him without looking back.  
  
Back in her dormitory, she took out a parchment and wrote a letter.  
  
Dear Mother,  
  
Before the year is out, I will be Narcissa Malfoy... 


End file.
